scotland ♔ yet how the wind revives us here

[untethered]

♬ Presentiment - Manami Kiyota

WHO || Belle, Gold, Emma, Hook, Lila [closed]
WHAT || Several Knights take a secret journey to try to help Amara...
WHERE || Oakhurst, Scotland
WHEN || January 15th, 2014 [forward dated]
HOW || Actionspam

It's probably a very good thing that Gold sweet-talked them a car in the nearby tiny Scottish village of Oakhurst, because it is freezing cold out and snow blankets almost everything around. Walking the seven miles up the Old Road to the ruins would be a bitch and a half.

Instead, they comfortably drove past rocky downs, near stands of old-growth oak covered in snow, and past two farms that looked abandoned. No other travelers were visible on the lonely road, which finally curves, passing east of a narrow ravine. Belle signals for them to pull over here, where, at the road's closest approach to the cleft, several broken pillars jut from the earth where the ravine widens and opens into something akin to more of a deep, but narrow, cavern. Two of the pillars stand straight, but most of them lean against the sloped earth. Others are broken and several have apparently fallen into the darkness-shrouded depths. A few similar pillars are visible on the opposite side of the ravine.

Comments

[uncurse]

Toss me a potion!

[ emma continues to struggle towards the dying druid. who knows if she finally reaches him; she can't cure him either way at this point. but she will explain why she's trying. ]

We lose him, we'll never get that apple!

[bittersweeter]

[ meanwhile, lila's excessively good reflex scores keep her barreling toward the druid, but she doesn't much care if he dies tbh. she just wants to keep the wand out of his grasp so, maybe, his magic will be disrupted if he makes a mad scramble for life. ] There's got to be a druid at the castle, can't we just trade him for a while? He's not going to give us the apple now.

[unhand]

[Belle's covered again gdi. Hook drops his gun, more worried about getting the potions than losing it forever right now. He grabs the bag out from under the vines (escape artist nat 20) while evading the vines again (reflex 15). He throws the bag in Emma's general direction (ranged atk 13).]

Swan, catch!

[sternshield]

[ emma catches the potion, as erky continues to struggle in vain... right as the druid fails his final save, managing to croak out in his last breath.

"Two... supplicants... they must... be... aliv--" and then his eyes roll back in his head. /init ... the entangle effect will stay on for about another three minutes (unsure) ]

[uncurse]

No. [ she catches the bag (ref 14) and then drops down to the ground beside the druid, yanking the zipper open and hurriedly trying to produce a potion. it's too late, though, and it sinks in as she pulls out one of the miniature bottles, staring at the empty whites of his eyes. her shoulders slump. ]

[bittersweeter]

[ lila skids to a stop. for a moment she just stands there, still and unmoving, until the vines start trying to creep around her, causing her to move back the way she came. (reflex save 17) basically fuck this, she'll help erky because they've fucked up the rest of this mission splendidly, might as well keep the one good thing to come out of it safe. ]

[undealt]

[Gold still can't roll a strength check to save his life, so... that's still happening. He's pretty well occupied with the task of trying to free himself and Belle and doesn't notice how fucked they've managed to become.]

[untethered]

[ belle lets out a strangled sound of despair when she realizes the druid's dead as well, but maybe not for the same reasons, who knows. she can't get free either so they're just gonna be over here a sec while the effect wears off. ] Do you have any dispelling effects?

[undealt]

[Gold looks momentarily humiliated and casts DISPEL MAGIC. Let's see if it works.

HE DOESN'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT.]

[untethered]

[ it


works









well this is awkward ]

[bittersweeter]

[ this is why magic is useless tbh. so since she doesn't have to rescue erky, she just... sits down where she is because fuck this mission. she's going to smoke in the middle of an underground lair and ain't no one going to stop her. ]

[undealt]

[GOLD DEEPLY CONSIDERS LYING HERE AND PRETENDING HE'S DEAD, SO HE DOESN'T HAVE TO DEAL WITH THAT HUMILIATION, but whatever. They have to... figure out what to do.]

So that's it. [He sighs.] Are you all right, Belle?

[untethered]

I'm fine. [ she shakes her head, brushing off his concern b/c she is totes okay, let's not focus on her rn. instead her gaze sweeps over to the dead druid and then back to the tree, and she looks absolutely disgusted. ] I think it might have been for the best. This... magic of his is evil. Taking one of those apples... [ she stops, obviously not feeling the need to finish that with ALSO MAKES US EVIL. ]

[bittersweeter]

What and letting Amara live under this curse is... somehow good?

[uncurse]

[ yeah emma's over the moral high ground right now. they sailed to fucking scotland for this, hiked through a dungeon for days - they have nothing. nothing to show for it. amara is still cursed, and david is still leaving. she surges to her feet and turns to march over to gold, dragging him up by his lapels to his feet. ]

We had a deal. [ it's desperate and urgent and demanding that he fix it, that he find a way. ]

[undealt]

[WOW HEY. Manhandle, much? Gold glowers at her and tries to pull away, which is surprisingly difficult when you have one bad ankle. He catches himself and bares his teeth.]

You're going to blame me for your carelessness?

[Ignoring his whole... thing. That was sure a thing.] Or was I supposed to anticipate what it would cost?

[unhand]

[Hook goes over the tree and examines it (search 16).] Maybe we can take a clipping back to the castle. See if anyone can figure out how it works.

[He's vaguely paying attention to Gold and Emma but she's perfectly capable of doing the whole threatening thing without his help.]

[untethered]

[ belle puts a hand on either of their shoulders as if to say HEY LET'S NOT START A PHYSICAL ALTERCATION HERE, but it's not like she's gonna push them apart with her amazing strength or anything. ] I think we've fought enough on this mission without adding each other to that list.

[sternshield]

Taking any of this tree outta here is the last thing anyone should do. Did you hear him? He was sending seeds out from the apples to try to populate the surface with these monstrosities. Vampire trees, that hunger for the blood of the living, sprouting up throughout the countryside?

We should burn it. That's what.

[uncurse]

My carelessness? The one person who could have helped us break Amara's curse is dead because you couldn't use your magic for anything but scorching goblins. [ she raises a hand to swat belle's hand away, but backs off all the same. ] Maybe instead of worrying about teaching me, you should be figuring out how to use it yourself.

[ fuming, she turns on her heels and approaches where hook and erky are discussing the tree. ] We need a way to track down the ones on the surface, too. Getting rid of what he already did.

[bittersweeter]

There's probably hundreds of them. [ lila doesn't move to entire either argument, just sitting there and using her lighter to torch some of the roots that were trying to ensnare them before snuffing out the flame with her boot. weee. ]

[undealt]

[Gold swipes his cane off the ground, holding onto Belle for support once Emma releases him, but he has nothing to say for himself.]

We'll figure it out. At least this mission will have been worth something.

[sternshield]

We might do well to enlist what rangers and druids we can find, then. Clerics of nature gods, that sort of thing.

[uncurse]

I'll put a call to the castle when we break the surface.

[ she holsters her gun, moving to stand beside hook and look up at the tree. nothing new. just tree and depressions shaped like people and the knowledge that they'd have had to kill two people just to save one. ]

Wynn will have people to dispatch. [ they're done here. she tucks one hand into her jacket pocket and reaches up to brush her thumb against one eyebrow, trying to dispel the last of her tension; if they're going to hike back up, she's going to need to be willing to work with gold and not be bitter that he hadn't been able to deliver. that was what rumplestiltskin did - he delivered on his deals, and let people dig themselves straight down to hell in his debt. but this isn't rumplestiltskin she's dealing with; it's gold. and gold was useless to her. ]

Take whatever he had on him. [ she mutters the orders to hook. it's not to try and hide the information from the others, but rather to make it a private moment and clarify who she's asking to do it. you need a body looted, you ask a pirate. ]

[undealt]

[Gold circles around to the tree so that he's out of the way of everyone else AND TORCHES THAT SUCKER with a burning arc (dmg 23... idek if vampire trees need damage rolls but whatever).

He's mad and SINCE ALL HE'S APPARENTLY GOOD FOR IS LIGHTING THINGS ON FIRE, ALLOW HIM TO DEMONSTRATE HOW GOOD HE IS AT THAT.]